The Winner Takes It All
by Rozalie
Summary: At St. Vladimir and Fyodor Academy rivalry is huge. Moroi and dhampirs cant stand each other, pulling pranks is tradition. So what happens when Rose is invited to be part of the dhampir gang who pulls these pranks? Especially when her best friend Lissa is a Moroi. And what about when Dimitri the leader of the dhampir gang starts having a romantic interest on her? Read to find out.
1. Chapt 1: And So the Rivalry Begins

_**A/N:** _Hi everyone.

I'm so proud that I finally completed the first chapter of my very first story. I had been playing with the plot for a while and now I have something to work with. I hope you all enjoy it ;)

_**Disclaimer**: _I do not own any of the characters from VA. They belong to the amazing Richelle Mead. The plot however belongs to me.

_**Full Summary**: _At St. Vladimir and Fyodor Academy rivalry is huge. Moroi and dhampirs students cannot stand each other, pulling pranks against each other is part of their rivalry tradition. So what happens when Rose is inivited to be part of the dhampir gang who pulls these pranks on the Moroi? Especially when her best friend Lissa is a Royal Moroi. And what about when Dimitri leader of the dhampir gangs starts to have a romantic interest on her? Love or friendship which will she choose? READ TO FIND OUT...

* * *

_**The Winner Takes It All**_

_**And So the Rivalry Begins...**_

_**Rose POV:**_

"Hathaway!" growled Dimitri Belikov in front of me.

The other four seniors standing next to him snickered in low tones at my dumbfounded expression while my arms stiffened around the box full of bags of blood. Okay, so it wasn't real blood. Dimitri's friends Denis and Lev prepared ten batches of corn syrup mixed with red food coloring, and filled up the empty and stolen medical blood bags. The idea was to make it look like real blood so we could pull off the prank on the Moroi students of St. Vlads Academy.

But my eyes had trailed off to my best friend Lissa's bedroom window the moment Artur, another senior, started picking the lock of the back door to the kitchen. I couldn't help but wonder if Lissa was on a airplane back to Montana. School starts in two more days and almost every Moroi student was either returning to campus tonight or tomorrow morning. I completely spaced out in those minutes that I forgot about what I was doing until Dimitri's voice snapped me back to reality. He didn't looked a bit pleased with me right now. I blinked.

"What?" was the only thing that came out of my mind. That earned me more snickering laughter from the seniors and a couple of stifled giggles from the six juniors which of course three of them are my supposedly friends.

_Hmph! some friends_. I narrowed my eyes at them, mentally duct-tapping their mouths.

"I swear Hathaway, if you can't listen then maybe you are not fit to carry on my torch." he snatched the box from my arms and grumbled something else that I didn't catch as he stepped inside. The rest of us followed with no questions asked.

Mason and Eddie joked among themselves as they too carried boxes. Meredith and Viktoria pointed flashlights to illuminate the path. I walked next to Viktoria watching my step along the way. Behind me, Denis, Lev, Artur, and Tamara followed in silence. Everyone was on duty mode if this prank was going to be pulled correctly.

The kitchen was completely dark and empty. Of course it would be. It was a little after midnight. The only light we were receiving was from the moon shining through the small windows and from the flashlights.

Dimitri led us all to the freezer where the blood and other food was kept. The cold air immediately hit my entire body as I stepped in. My skin shivered and I rubbed my arms. The medium size room was just as dark as the kitchen except there was isles of shelves stacked with boxes and bags of ice. We didn't stopped to browse around to see what was inside the boxes. Instead we headed to the shelves labeled _'Hearty Welcome Back Treats'. _

Within minutes we stacked those shelves with the fake blood bags in the same spot where the real blood would usually be placed. This was part of the plan. We all knew for a fact that tomorrow when all of the Moroi students arrive to campus, around noon sign up tables for elective classes, clubs, and other extra curricular activities would be lined up in the main hall. They had all these options to sign up before classes start. There was also the fact that the lunch ladies would set up a table for '_snacks only' _and these bags of blood were poured in paper cups for the students. It was the academy's way of '_Welcoming back' _its students.

Oh, what a surprise they were going to get when they realized that their drinks are nothing more than corn syrup and food coloring. My face twisted in disgust at the thought of Lissa spitting out her drink, if she doesn't throw up first.

It wasn't my intention to humiliate her or involve her in any way in this rivalry. But this was what it was. A rivalry between St. Vlads and Fyodor Academy. Moroi versus Dhampir. It's been like that for a decade. The saddest part was nobody really knows how it started.

The story we were told by our kind began ten years ago when St. Vlads still welcomed both Moroi and dhampir. I was probably six or seven years old at the time. I don't really know what happened. Anything that didn't involve food or games was no concern of mine then. But as the story goes a Moroi girl, a royal actually, told her parents that she was being harassed and almost raped by these two male novices. The parents were outraged and gather all of the royal families to rally the St. Vlads committee. Apparently royals didn't want their children taking their education under the same roof as dhampirs. That it was dangerous environment. The parents demanded that we should be separated. Some even offered to pay for a new school for the novices.

The dhampir community was outraged by this accusation. They no longer wanted their children to be taking their education with blood sucking creatures but declined the offered to let the Royals pay for a new school. Instead, the dhampir community raised the money on their own and had the school built at the other end of the forest from St. Vlads. It was still critical that Guardians stayed closed to a Moroi school. Not that it matter much, some of the best Guardians were assigned to St. Vlads for safety. Anyway, the new school was named Fyodor after Anna Fyodor the guardian of Vladimir and it was equipped with all of the facilities and instructors needed to train novices.

Everyone should have been happy, right?

Wrong. A week before Fyodor was open, the Feeder's wing at St. Vlads was burned down. The Moroi community blamed the dhampirs for this incident. That it was some sort of revenge for kicking out the novices from the academy. The dhampir community blamed the Moroi. That it was some conspiracy planned by the Royals. Whatever the reason was it caused a huge commotion between both community. And not just within the adults but also within the children. Pranks were pulled between both academies as in some sort of payback thing. Nobody really remembers who started but it went on for a while.

You would think after a couple of years these silly pranks would burned out. But they didn't. Every year they got worst and worst and worst.

Unfortunately this never cycle was tearing Lissa and me. She being a royal and me a dhampir our friendship wasn't acceptable. Especially within our circle of friends. Which sucked. Lissa and I have been best friends since kindergarten. Things haven't been great since we had been separated in the third grade. We rarely spoke to each other during the school year. Only through a few phone calls a week, emails. That sort of thing. It wasn't the same thing as hanging out in real person but at least we would spend a lot of time together during holidays and vacations.

I am afraid that this year might change, though. As a junior and as one of the best novices in my class I am eligible to be a candidate to carry on the torch that the seniors will leave behind. If I prove to be a worthy leader that is. I would need Dimitri's consent to be in charge next year. He'll search for certain qualities in junior novices especially when you are given the chance to participate in pranks like I am doing. He'll then passed on the leadership to the right person the week of graduation and it would be that person's responsibility to come up with pranks to pull on St. Vlads next year. In other words, I have a slight chance of being that leader. Something I am not looking forward to because St. Vlads has a similar ritual to ours. Worst part of it all is that Lissa is also an eligible candidate to be leader of her kind. Next year we would become enemies and hate each other. Something I'm dreading to happened.

"Is that all of them?" I heard Dimitri asking Denis.

Denis nodded. I glanced over and the boxes had been emptied. It looks like everything was all set for tomorrow.

A little voice in my head told me to warn Lissa with an email later as we left the freezer to the kitchen and outside.

"Too bad we won't be able to their faces when they drink the corn syrup." Denis laughed along with Lev.

"What matters is that we're getting back at them." Tamara muttered behind them. "We're pulling the first prank of the year."

"Yah!" Denis and Lev high five each other.

"SHHH!" Dimitri growled which made everyone cringe. "We're not out of the woods yet. Be quiet until we jump the fence and we're far from here. The last thing we need is to get caught."

"It will be all for nothing." Artur explained.

Everyone nodded and continued walking.

I couldn't help but noticed that Dimitri was walking next to me. From the corner of my eye I could see his intense posture which meant he was on the alert. Probably keeping eye out that for any Guardians who were patrolling the academy. It was either that or he was still mad at me from what happened earlier. Normally, I would eased him up into small talk which would eventually end up in some sort of teasing. It was the type of relationship I had with him ever since his Viktoria became one of my best friends in the fifth grade. Drimiti had taken up this role of playing the big brother in my life somewhere along the line since we'd known each other. Even though I don't see him as brother anymore. I haven't for a while actually. I like-like him. Not that I would say anything about my stupid crush since I wasn't sure about how he felt about me. For all I could know, I'm just probably a little sister to him.

As I let my shoulders drop in defeat my face smacked onto Deni's back. I guess it happens when you don't pay attention where you're walking. My body bounced back and I almost fell on my butt if it wasn't for Dimitri who quickly reached for my wrist and steady my balance.

"Geh Hathaway are you spacing out on us again? How is possible that you passed to junior year if you don't pay attention?" Denis mocked.

I glared up at him. He was embarrassing me in front of everyone. _In front of Dimitri! _I wasn't going to let it go on.

"I'm smarter than you think, Denis." I gave him a smug look just to show him off. Shrugging my shoulders, I continued on, "You're just never going to know how. A girl gotta have secrets."

Yup that did. Denis frowned. Mason and Eddie laughed at him. Everyone did. I heard Dimitri chuckling beside me which thrilled me to have made him laugh. I smiled brightly at my accomplished for the day. At least I wasn't a total failure after all.

"Come on guys. We have to keep moving." Dimitri said.

We cross the court quickly without running into any Guardians. When we reached brick fence Dimitri and Denis climbed up first since they were the two tallest guys in the group. Then they lend everyone a hand and help us up climb up the wall.

My intention was to reach for Denis hand when it was my turn but he totally ignored me and reached for Viktoria instead. He did that on purpose!

I send him another glare and turned to lock gazes with Dimitri.

A small smile could be found in those perfect lips as he stared right back at me. Did he know how nervous he made me feel each time we lock gazes like that? Or was he messing with me?

I decided not worry about it and reached out for some assistance. His long fingers wrapping around my wrists sending a hot flash to my face. I knew he was just grabbing me to pull me up but a part of wished that it would mean something more.

I avoided as much as eye contact as possible so he wouldn't see me blushing. When I reached the top of the wall I moved to the side of Dimitri so I could take a final glance at Lissa's window. It was obvious that she wasn't there and I just couldn't help but feel a little sad. I missed her. I wished I could have gone to her room and tell her all about Dimitri.

That wasn't going to happened anytime soon.

After tomorrow the rivalry will begin. The Moroi will hate us for pulling such a horrible prank on them and they would find a way to get back at us.

Boy, was I not looking forward to that.

Rivalry isn't a pretty thing.

* * *

**_A/N: _**That everyone concludes the introduction. At least for now. I do plan to add other POVs in the story as story the develops. I sort of have to since I have to switch between Moroi and Dhampirs ;D

Anyway, don't forget to review and let me know what you think of the story so far. I'll really appreciate it when you.


	2. Chapt 2: Bloody Hell!

_**A/N: **_Here's the next chapter. It's time to get into some of the Moroi world before switching back to Rose's. I hope you like.

A very special thank you to_ **Guest1, Valerie Belikov, evilneevil, Guest2, Little Dhampir, FMN** _for reviewing the very first chapter, it means a lot. I also like to thank everyone who has been reading this story, favored, and alerted too. Thank you so much. You guys keep me going ^^

**Please R&R**

* * *

_**Bloody Hell!**_

_**Lissa POV:**_

_Sorry?_

What could Rose be '_sorry'_ for? I received her email this morning around 3 am but I didn't look at it until 7 am after I showered. Her message was short but it held many meanings. There was no way of knowing where to start. It worried me that she might have done something regrettable or unforgivable. But what? Rose has never done or said anything to hurt me. It wasn't like her to do so.

Should I be worried?

_No_, I told myself and shrugged it off. She was probably saying sorry because she forgot to called me the moment I arrived at St. Vladimir. Rose always called to make sure I made it okay, then we would catch up on things we'd missed in the past few days. Staying friends wasn't easy for neither one of us. My brother Andre had advised me to stopped talking to her, it disgraced our family in befriending a dhampir. Luckily, I always won by reminding him that she was going to be my Guardian when I graduate. Of course, I needed to talk to her, I needed to know that she was one hundred percent loyal and committed. Andre never argued with that. He wanted to me to safe, well protected, and who better than Rose to fit that description.

"Lissa are you going to join student government this year?" a dark brunette girl called me. She stood behind the table with a huge Government sign hanging in the front.

There were at least a two dozen tables lined up in main hall, each offering some sort of club or activity to join and just about each table was crowded. People were signing up, looking through pamphlets, or chatting up with the ones in charge of the club. But the student Government table wasn't as crowded as the other tables and that's only because student Government was exclusive to the royals. The only way you can get in, even if you were not a royal was if the student king or queen let you. In this case, my brother.

Putting on my best fake smile and I walked over to Avery.

"Um, not this year. Maybe next year when I'm a senior." I said as kindly as possible.

I did not want to join student government because of the way they run it. They are the ones responsible for scheming against Fyodor Academy and will not get in trouble for it. Nobody was foolish enough to rat them out. Like last year, the student government members did the cruelest thing. They wrote Bloodwhore Children in big bold letters in the brick wall fence of Fyodor near the entrance. It not only offended the novices but it also offended the Guardians both from here and from Fyodor. Headmistress Kirova was furious and demanded the names of the people who did this. Nobody stepped up to say anything, unfortunately. It's as if everyone was proud of what they had done to Fyodor. The entire school was forced to clean up graffiti and apologized to novices and Guardians by holding a banquet for them. This gave another reason for my '_kind_' to continue hating novices which is why I cannot join student government. I cannot do what they do.

Avery gave me a confused look, "If you join now, you can be elected for student queen next year. Don't you want that?"

Uh, how do I answer that?

I didn't have to, my brother did.

"Of course she does. Lissa is joining student government. All Dragomirs do." Andre approached us and swung an arm around my shoulders, making me feel like a child in front of Avery.

"Great, sign up here." Avery handed me a clipboard and a pen.

I couldn't help but notice Christian Ozera, Jesse Zeklos, Ralf Sarcozy, Aaron Drozdov, and Camille Conta names in the first five lines as I wrote mine. It looks like Avery has found recruits for next year. This my stomach drop knowing that I'm one of them.

I handed the clipboard and Avery smiled her self-satisfied smile "Welcome to the club."

"Thanks," I mumble, feeling guilty for some reason.

"Who join the club?" a voice spoke.

My head turned to my left and found Adrian, Ivan, and Tasha joining us. They too are part of the student government. Adrian and Ivan are my brother's best friends. Tasha and Avery are each other's best friend. Between them all, they make ferocious leaders.

It scared me to think that my brother and his friends were going to turn the recruits and me just like them.

"My little sis." Andre answered proudly as he petted my head like a dog. I squirmed under his hold. My brother was really making me look like a child!

"Andre!" I whined.

Adrian chuckled.

"Welcome to the club, cus." he handed me a paper cup filled with blood and handed Andre another. At least Adrian wasn't like the others. He had a womanizing and drinking reputation that perceive him since freshman year but it was all an act. Adrian was the kind of person who talk to you in a friendly matter and make you feel part of group no matter who you were. He doest judge but he does point out the ugly truth when nobody does. And no, he and I weren't real cousins but we might as well be. He's just as protective of me as Andre is. He was family. His presence made me at eased while standing next to Andre and the others. Especially when I'm the only junior in a crowd of seniors.

"Cheers." Tasha said enthusiastically and held her cup toward the center.

Our cups meet in the middle with a small thud sound.

I took a sip of my drink. Besides being cold, there was a sugary flavor mixed with corn and water in the blood floating through my mouth and I couldn't help but convulse. This was not blood at all.

Automatically, I spit out it before letting the liquid run down my throat.

Seconds later, Andre and the others spit out their drinks. Spatters of red liquid tainted our clothes while some of it stuck to the lips.

"Eww! Eww! EWWWW!" cried Avery. Her face twisted in disgust as she danced in her tip-toes and shook her hands frenzy like she was begging for someone to whipped the liquid off her dress, lips.

Andre used the back of his hand to whipped it off. He stared at the sticky liquid for a brief moment and look up at us, searching for some answers. "What the-"

He couldn't finished his sentence as the entire hall exploded into chokes, coughs, and squeals. Everywhere I looked, people were spitting out their drinks. Red spatters showered everyone and everything. My face grimaced when people started throwing up.

_Disgusting_, I turned away before I too started throwing up.

Everything went into chaos after that.

I watched as the adults rush to students and check up on them as if they had been poisoned. The Guardians standing by the doors gathered around the snack table and started questioning the lunch ladies like primary suspects. Students skittered away to the restrooms, crying like identical copies of Avery.

I followed Andre and the others to an empty classroom, dabbing liquid soap onto the red marks at the bottom of my skirt and hoped it wouldn't stain permanently.

"This is all of doing of those novices." Ivan hissed as the rest of us gathered around.

"You sure?" Adrian's eyebrows furrowed as he questioned Ivan.

"Yes, and I bet it was Belikov's idea."

"Hold on." Tasha interrupted in her most calmed voice. "How can you be so sure? I know Dimitri, he's not like that."

"You forget he was recruited last year like us. He's probably the leader of that sorry group." Ivan spat.

I knew Ivan and Dimitri were rivals, Rose told me this one summer ago which is why I didn't missed the hatred in Ivan's words when he spoke of Dimitri. Those two could not be in the same room without choking themselves. Three years ago, in our annunal Halloween Masquerade Ball, the one night when both Moroi and dhampirs are present in the same room, Ivan and Dimitri got into a bloody fight. Even the Guardians had a hard time pulling them apart. I thought for a second there that Dimitri was going to kill Ivan. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. Ivan and Dimitri were thrown out of the dance, though. Nobody know exactly what happened between them, especially when they were really close long before schools were separated. It's sad to see two friends hate each other the way Ivan and Dimitri do. To be honest, it scares me to think that it could happened to Rose and me.

"So we strike back." I heard Avery say. The determination her voice told me that she was looking for a good payback. Especially since her expensive dress had been ruined. Avery told Tasha on our way to the classroom that she was throwing the dress away. She had no intention of keeping something that had been tainted.

The others nodded in agreement.

How could they all agree? Even Adrian and Tasha who had been a little skeptic about what happened a few minutes ago in main hall nodded their heads. I wanted to say something, anything to change their minds about following through with petty idea. But my mouth seemed to forgot how to open because no words came out.

"Tasha get the new recruits and let's meet back here in a hour. " My brother ordered. She nodded as she understood what was being asked do. He then turned to the rest us. "We'll wash up and meet back here. We'll come up with ideas to get back at the novices, show them not to mess with us."

Again, everyone nodded.

Except me. I wasn't sure if I like this. Planning against Rose seemed wrong. Very wrong. So how do I get out of this?

* * *

**_*Don't forget to review._**


	3. Chapt 3: The Belikovs Stick Together

_**A/N: **_I hope I didn't keep anyone waiting too long. I wasn't sure if I should add more than one POV in one chapter so I ended up making Lissa's POV part of the next chapter instead. There's some good news, Chapt 4 is almost completed but I thinking about adding Rose. What do you guys think? Should I keep POVs separated, one in each chapter or should I stacked them up two per chapter?

Special thanks to_** Valerie Belikov, Anon, Shinylinx97, Little Dhampir, FMN, Guest, Marbles06 **_for reviewing the previous chapter. And thank you all who is reading, favoring and alerted this story.

_**Please R&R**_

* * *

_**The Belikovs Stick Together**_

_**Rose POV**_:

"Keeping moving, you have 50 laps to complete before lunch!" shouted Stan from the sidelines of the track field.

His eyes were focus on the clipboard as he marked tiny check-marks next to the names of students after completing a lap. Nothing got passed Stan. He was making sure that you completed 50 laps exactly. And it didn't matter that wasn't looking up right now, Celeste standing next to him was also keeping track. Next to them stood, Emil, Yuri, and Jean keeping track of everyone's times. It was Stan's idea to whip all of the high school novices back into shape before tomorrow when classes start. As if he expected for everyone to be at least at 99.9% in shape after today. The man was crazy.

I for once envied those who haven't arrived to campus yet. It was brutal today. I haven't jogged or run all summer. Instead, I spend my summer attending parties Lissa, shopping and swimming. All in all, I was completely out of my shape. My lungs started burning after the fifth lap, my breathing had picked up a notch, and my legs felt heavy as if they were stuck in blocks of cement. After the tenth lap I contemplated whether or not I should just give in and pretend to pass out. But then I thought about it better. Everyone will think I'm weak, probably even hold against me for the rest of my high school career and make jokes about it.

Rose Hathaway is not a quitter.

Ignoring the pain, I jogged next to Viktoria who seemed happy about this workout. She even made it seem easy, there was no single drip of sweat on her forehead unlike the rest of us and her breathing was steady. It must be all running she does Dimitri. Whether they are in a school, or it's the weekend, or are on break Vik and Dimitri run a few laps. I'm pretty sure that to Vik this was nothing. I was even surprised she decided to jogged with me when she could have been done hours ago.

"You think Stan will feel sorry for us and let us quit after 30 laps." I joked.

Vik snorted, "No. I bet if he could he would made us do 100 laps. Guardian Alto isn't known to be sympathetic, Rose."

My face turned white. _100 laps? _Now there was something worst than 50 laps. I licked my lips, "I would rather die from 50 laps than 100."

Vik laughed her girly laugh. Everything I would say Viktoria found it amusing for some reason. She thinks I don't take anything seriously due to my may years of bad reputation at Fyodor. She likes to think of me as spirited person, both stubborn and determined at some times. But she also understands me well, being a female dhampir and all, we relate to each other's challenges and lend each other a hand when it's needed. We're supportive and watch each other's backs. These are some reasons why I like Viktoria so much and why I can call her a real friend.

Vik can be a shy, though. She's all bubbly and girly when she's with me. Very talkative when the subject is about secret crushes. She can be vicious and argumentative when Dimitri is around. She doesn't like losing to him in arguments or when sparring. But when we're surrounded by a group of guys or classmates, Vik tends to quiet down, hides behind others like a shadow. She lacks that confidence she would normally have when I or Dimitri are with her. Must be for the fact that everyone her expects to her to be just as great as her brother.

Expectations can push just about anyone to insecurities. Even me, the girl who is not prepare to take Dimitri's position if the leadership is passed on.

"I invited you this summer to run laps with me before I left to Russia but you declined my offer." Vik said in her matter in fact voice.

"Well, I was busy."

"Doing what exactly?"

_Hanging out with Lissa_, I wanted to say. The words couldn't come up though. Viktoria doesn't know much about my friendship with Lissa. She knows we used to be friends before the separation of schools happened and about Lissa requesting me to be her Guardian when we graduate. Other than that, everything is a secret.

All I could do was shrugged helplessly. I didn't trust myself to speak otherwise I would have spilled everything and comprise my friendships with both Lissa and Vik. And I couldn't afford that.

Her dark eyes gazed at me hard like she was searching for any flaws or guilt written in my face. If she did find them, Vik let it go and changed the subject.

"How many laps do we still have?"

"Uh, 15."

"25." corrected a voice from behind.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Dimitri 5 yards away. With his long legs and athleticism I wouldn't doubt if he caught up with in matter of seconds.

"And you know this how exactly?" I asked dryly the moment he jogged beside me. He'd slowed his pace and matched it to ours.

He shrugged.

"I'm keeping track." he said and whipped the sweat off his forehead.

Funny how he's probably the one in the entire school who was in good condition and yet he was sweating like the rest of us. That's not what caught my attention, though. My eyes couldn't stop noticing how his white shirt clung to his body and how his muscles flexed underneath shirt, and God! I was checking him out!

I felt the heat creeping in on my cheeks. Embarrassing.

"You're keeping tabs on me now? What am I? A starlet?" I said annoyingly and did my best to keep my voice evenly. There was no reason to make him suspect that my heart was racing incredibly fast just by looking at him.

"I always keep tabs of you, Roza." he said and smiled one of those rare half smiles for me. The ones I love so much.

This, however, only made my cheeks grow hotter. I couldn't tell if he was just showing his brotherly love or if he was really flirting with me. Dimitri was hard to read sometimes, especially when he was guarded. There was no telling of what he was doing right now.

"And yes, you're a starlet. Someone has to keep an eye on you, make sure you stay out of trouble."

"Well, you shouldn't worry about me. You should worried about yourself, you're the one who's sweating and all. I wouldn't want you to faint on me because I'm not carrying you to the finish line." I teased.

Of course he needed to snort at that. He finds me just as amusing as Viktoria does. They had to related, huh?

"You won't need to carry me to finish line. I have four more laps to go and I'm done. You, however, might want to pick up your pace or you're not going to make it on time for lunch and we all know what happens when you don't get you're meal."

"What's that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"This." he imitated the face of a sullen person. Or…me.

"I do not do that!" I shouted.

Vik who had been laughing the entire time pointed at me and nodded her head, "Yes, you do. If you don't get food in you're stomach, you get grouchy all today."

"Told yah. I'm always right." Dimitri sang.

"Pfft, Belikovs. You're don't know when you're imagining things. You should get yourselves check out." I huffed.

"Is that so?" Dimitri snickered along Vik, obviously they had sided with each other and double ganged up at me.

"Yes." I picked up and pace and left the Belikovs behind. I wasn't sticking around to hear more of their mockery. You just couldn't win when they stuck by each other.

Three steps and I was pulled into Lissa's head unexpectedly.

* * *

_**A/N:** _Don't forget to review. Constructive criticism is appreciated. This is my first story and I can used all the feedback out there to improve. ^^


	4. Chapt 4: Liar, Liar

_**A/N: **_I'm getting better at updating, right? :)

I just wanted to clear something out, Lissa and Rose are bonded but they do not understand it nor how it happened. You'll see them put the pieces together as the story develops. For now, this will be mention but it will remain unclear.

Special thanks to_** Little Dhampir, Marbles06, Guest, Valeria Belikov, Just anothe fan, .Reader, RozaRoseBelikov, evilneevil, FMN, Sabri Belikova, and Glamette **_for reviewing the previous chapter. You guys are the best! Also, thank you to those who are keeping up with the story, favored and alerted.

Here's a new chapter. Enjoy ^^

* * *

_** Liar, Liar**_

_**Rose POV:**_

"_Why can't sneak in to Fyodor! We're not as strong or athletic as dhampirs, how do expect us to climb a 10 ft brick wall fence?" the dark haired girl yelled at Ivan. _

_Jesse Zeklos, a Moroi boy who used to bully me in the second grade because I didn't act girlish like the rest of the girls, and his best friend Ralf Sarcozy had proposed to break in our gym and tipie the place with rolls of toilet paper, possibly even tag the walls. Jesse's cousin Ivan had liked the idea and tried to convince the others to agree into doing it. _

_The idea was outrageous, it fueled my hatred towards Moroi and lessened my guilt for that fake blood prank. They deserved it._

_The gym at Fyodor is like a haven for all novices. We spend the majority of the time in there training and perfecting our fighting techniques. Some like me will go to the gym to blow off some steam when they're stressed. The gym meant something to all novices, it's an area respected and well taken care of. By causing serious damage to it would only pissed off all novices and that's what Ivan and the others want. To get back at us. _

_It's a good thing the bond between Lissa and I is one-way otherwise my anger would have overwhelmed her. She would have snapped or punch Ivan a long time like I would if I was there physically. But instead, Lissa shifted in her seat uncomfortably and fumbled with her fingers while she listen to the ridiculous ideas being thrown out in open air. _

"_It's not that hard, Ave. We're taller than most novices, climbing the wall shouldn't be a problem." Ivan snorted like he something her argument amusing. _

"_What about running into Strigoi in woods? What would we do then? We can't fight them. Heck, the majority of us haven't seen one." Adrian chimed in and challenged Ivan. _

_Lissa smiled at Adrian's countered. I did too. He was one of the few Moroi guys that I actually liked. He never treated me differently when I ran into him. He was good looking and sometimes annoying, but he wasn't never sober either._

"_That's not entirely true, Adrian" Tasha, Dimitri's ex-girlfriend, decided to speak up and joined in the conversation. _

_Adrian's green eyes narrowed at her, "How?" he asked suspiciously. _

"_We can always fight off Strigoi with our magic." she answered. She held out her hand and conjured a small flame in her palm as she showed everyone. "We're not that helpless."_

_Tasha was a rebel. She didn't like being helpless. When she was fifteen her parents were killed by her own aunt and uncle. It was done deliberately so they could turned to Strigoi. Tasha had to fought off her aunt and uncle in order to protect her cousin Christian from them. Ever since, Tasha had learned how to use offensive magic and self-defense in secrecy so she could continue to protect herself and Christian. She was a force to reckon with, and I think that's one of the reasons why Dimitri dated her for a few months._

_Fortunately, Tasha's idea got dismissed. The others shook their heads no. They weren't ready to fight a Strigoi if they came across one. No Moroi was. _

"_No, we won't risk our lives like that. Especially not for a prank. Either we come up with something else or we're done for the day." Lissa's brother said. _

_I could feel Lissa's excitement when no one was saying anything. She hated this rivalry as much as I did. She didn't want to be part of it and hoped that they would call it a day._

_It's worked that way. Someone decided to speak up. Camille. _

"_How about compulsion?" she piped. _

_All eyes landed on her who stood confident and elegant next to Lissa. _

_The dark haired girl, whom Ivan called Ave, expression softened at Camille. Through Lissa, I was getting the feeling that this older girl liked Camille as a little sister and probably wanted to show her the ropes. Something that Lissa didn't appreciate much because Camille was her friend. If she got too involved in pulling these pranks, Lissa would be forced to end her friendship with Camille. _

"_What about compulsion?" the dark haired girl pondered an encouraging smile at Camille._

"_We could compelled some Guardians to sneak us in to Fyodor and-"_

"Rose?"

I could hear Dimitri's voice calling me, but I couldn't see anything. The track field was obscured by dancing blacks dots as my mind was being pulled out of Lissa's head.

This bond thing between Lissa and I was still new, I had no control when I'm being pulled into Lissa's head or the side effects that came after being pulled out. Neither Lissa or I understood it just that I shared the same emotions and nightmares as Lissa at the same time. And every now and then I would get pulled into her head unexpectedly.

We never told anyone about bond, so I could only imagine how Viktoria and Dimitri were taking my spacing out. They had no idea what was happening to me, so concerned and freaking out are two possible reactions.

"Rose, are you okay?" I felt his hands grasping my upper arms and forced me to stop running. I haven't realized that I had still been running this whole time until I felt myself coming back to my own body and conscious.

I blinked a few times and my vision came back. I saw Dimitri in front of me. His face was almost expressionless, but I knew him well enough to recognize the worry in his eyes.

Vik leaned over her brother's shoulder, "What happened? We called your name at least five times and you didn't answer."

_Uh_, I didn't know how to answer them without bringing up the bond. Lissa and I had promised not to tell a single person about it, we figure we should learn how to control it first. At least then we could prove to everyone that it's safe and there no need to lock us up in some mental hospital or something.

"I-I don't know." I lied and looked around, then shrugged, embarrassed.

Dimitri released his grip on me. I felt him place a finger under my chin, adjusted my focus to him as if he wanted my full attention. My cheeks grew very warm just by starting at his deep brown eyes with intimacy. It was somewhat awkward and it seemed to be happening a lot lately. Dimitri could never make me blush like this unless it was out of anger. And it's not like he's ever gave me any sort of signals that say he had romantic feelings towards me. I was probably imaging the whole thing.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

"I spaced out-this whole running thing is tiring and let my mind wonder to distract myself from the soreness. That's all." I tried to breakaway from his gaze, but he wouldn't let me.

"Roza, this wasn't spacing out. Now don't lie to me and tell me what happened." he demanded.

_Darn,_ he knew me too well. Dimitri was like my own personal lying detector. No lies ever got passed him which is why I never bothered to tell him one.

I glanced over his shoulder and my eyes found the entrance to the gym. The whole scheme that Ivan and the other Moroi were planning came rushing back. I couldn't let them go through with it, not if I could prevent it. The gym meant a lot to all of us.

I dragged my eyes to Dimitri, I had no idea how to warn him without lifting any suspicion about my bond to Lissa.

I bit my lip and I decided to give him a vague answer.

* * *

_**Lissa POV:**_

"Where have you been?" Mia Rinaldi jumped off my bed and skipped over toward me the moment I stepped inside my dorm. "I have a lot to tell." she giggled excitedly like a little five year old and tugged me toward the bed.

I staggered after her.

The excitement in her voice made me smile a bit. After the day I had dealing with my brothers and his friends and the rivalry thing, I could really use some cheering up. Mia's summer flings do the perfect job at that. I only saw Mia a few times around Court over the summer but we didn't had enough time to chat. She had busied herself with helping out her dad at work and boys. Somehow Mia always ends up meeting very exciting and funny guys around Court, giving her a summer full of adventures.

I envy her sometimes. Her life seems so spontaneous and carefree. She doesn't have to worry about expectations, Royal meetings and parties, or constantly being watched like me. She reminds me of Rose in a way. It's probably one of the main reasons why I became friends with Mia. That, and the fact that Mia loves shoes, shopping, and other girly things like me. Rose on the other hand could careless of what she wears or what people think of her. She's independent, selfless, loyal, caring….Rose isn't just my best friends. She's my sister.

I needed to get out of my brother's compromise on this rivalry thing. I couldn't go through with and break an entry. That gym was expensive to build and it was a sacred place for all novices. Rose had once told of the many hours they spend training and perfecting their fighting techniques. She even mention how some novices to the gym to blow off some steam when they were stressed. Overstepping those boundaries just to pissed off novices, including Rose was not worth it. I needed to warn Rose before it was too late. I came to my dorm to do that only problem was Mia here and I couldn't tell her. She wouldn't understand my friendship with Rose, no matter how close we were.

"Lissa, did you hear me?" Mia snapped her fingers in front eyes, bringing me back to reality.

"Hm?"

"Are you alright? You're not acting like yourself. Is there something wrong?" Mia managed to ask the question without flattering.

I nodded, "Yeah, I just got a lot in my mind."

"Well, aren't you going to share?" Mia said and gave me this expected stare like I was supposed to spill everything to her.

I laughed and waved her off, "It's nothing to worry about, Mia. Why don't you tell me about one of your spring flings. I promise you'll have my attention." I enticed her on the last part.

Mia smiled and clasped her hands together like giddy girl. "Okay, but you have to promise me that you won't tell nobody."

"I promise."

"Well…in July when I was helping my dad carry a few files to the Guardians building at Court and-" She paused for a moment.

Typical Mia. This was her way of a building suspense, drama in all her stories.

"And?" I gestured her to continued.

"-and I met these two cute guys. They were shadowing two Guardians for four days. They told me it was part of their training to see how it's like to be Guardians."

I took a brief moment to process all this. She was at Court in July helping her father carry file to the Guardian's building. Okay, I understand that. Her father works there. Then, she met two guys who were cute. That's not surprising. Like I said before, Mia always finds the cutest, funniest, more interesting guys at Court. So I can let this slide. But if they shadowing two Guardians as part of their training to see how it's like to be Guardians that can only mean one thing…?

"Mia, they're dhampirs!" I exclaimed.

Her smile widened and turned devilish, "I know. But Lissa, they're so cute and funny, and I clicked with one of them in particular. It's like…like he understood me. Like he knew the real me. No guy has ever done that." she explained.

She was right. I have known Mia long enough to know that there was nothing serious about the guys she went out with. If she connected with someone, it meant something.

I tried my best to stay calmed. If I could accept that my best friend is a dhampir and that I do not have anything against dhampir, then I could support Mia. Right?

My silence must have lasted longer than I intended to because Mia panicked. She reached for my arm and held on tight, her nails almost dug on my skin. "Lissa, promise me that you won't tell anyone. You know how our kind is. They won't accept it….and it will disgraced my family, not that it matter because we aren't from a Royal bloodline but still…Please Lissa." her blue eyes pleaded me to make that promise.

I pulled my arm away gently and gave her hand a squeeze. "Mia, don't worry. I promise not to tell anyone."

Mia sighed from relief and the smile reappeared on her lips.

"So what is his name?" I asked curiously.

"Eddie."

My eyes widened. I have heard that name before.

"Eddie Castile?" I gasped.

"Yeah, you know him?"

"No-I mean yes- I mean no- it's complicated." I rubbed my temples. This day just couldn't stop with the surprises could it? First, knowing the names of the new recruits, then the fake blood, the payback plan, and finally, finding out that your friend seeing a dhampir. And not just any dhampir, he's one of Rose's friends. She discretely pointed out all her friends to me on the Halloween Masquerade Ball last year. This can't be a good sign.

This must be God, or some higher being telling me that I'm being punished for agreeing to compelled two Guardians who will grant my brother and the others a safe passage to Fyodor without nobody knowing. I was such a horrible person.

"He says he goes Fyodor Academy." Mia continued, obviously unaware of my distress. "We were thinking about going to the Halloween Masquerade Ball together."

"Mia, you can't go to the ball together." I groaned.

"Why not? We'll be wearing masks, nobody will know." she huffed and crossed her arms.

I was about to tell that it didn't matter. Most people can sense who is a Moroi and who is a dhampir. She'll be outcast by our kind if she gets caught. But before I could say anything Camille came barging in.

"Are you ready to go?" she said.

"Go where?" Mia asked as she looked between Camille and me.

"Oh, the student government invited us to a private lunch. You know, since we're new members and all." Camille forged a smile. She didn't like Mia much because she came from a common Moroi family. Even if we were all Moroi at St. Vladimir, hierarchy separated our kind.

"You join student government? I thought you didn't like it." Mia accused.

She was right. All I could was shrugged helplessly. "My brother convinced me."

Mia stared at me hard. She could tell I was lying, but I couldn't tell her the truth. Being part of the student government meant that all of the scheming we did against Fyodor was classified information. This way, nobody could rat us to Headmistress Kirova or at least there couldn't be any prove that the student government did it.

_The less people knew about it, the better, _my brother told all the new recruits at the end of the meeting.

"I have to go Mia. I'll see you later at dinner." I tore my eyes from her and left the dorm feeling ashamed.

* * *

_**A/N: **_Up next Dimitri's group meets face to face Andre's group. How will both groups take the confrontation? How will this affect Lissa's and Rose's friendship? Stay tuned for the next chapter.

_**Please do not forget to review**_

_**Your feedback, constructive criticism, means a lot ^^ **_


	5. Chapt 5: Friendship Issues

_**A/N:** _Sorry for the long wait everyone. I wasn't happy with the chapter I can't even begin to tell how many times I wrote. I'm slightly happy to how it turned out in the end, and I hope you guys do too. About this chapter, let me tell you that some of the characters are a little OCC not so much though. I hope nobody minds.

Again special thank you to _**Roza. Dimka****.Reader, obsessed53, Little Dhampir, Guest, evilneevil, FMN, Glamette, just another fan, and crazylame1** _for reviewing the previous chapter. Also thank you to all who is reading this and to those who recently added this story to your favs and alert lists.

Here's the new chapter enjoy ^^

* * *

_**Friendship Issues**_

_**Lissa POV:**_

Streams of moonlight peeked through the many spring line windows that surrounded the gym giving off a better feel of awareness and safety in the dark. The room was spacious with high ceilings and shiny hardwood floorings. A couple of chairs were lined up against the far wall and the training equipment stood still in dark. The Fyodor gym looked luxurious, or at least just what I could see in the lighting.

What grabbed my attention the most was the second floor. It was darker and creepy, probably due to the fact that the moonlight didn't reach past the ledges so I couldn't see beyond it. Yet, I couldn't help but feel as if we were being watched.

I shook of the feeling and pay better attention to where I was walking as I followed my brother closely behind.

"Tasha," Andre called.

Tasha approached my brother in only five steps. Her pale blue eyes met his green ones, waiting for him to continue.

"Take the girls with you and start tipping the gym. The guys and I are going to tagged the walls, possibly even the locker rooms too if they're opened." he explained to her.

Tasha nodded without any questioning or disagreement. It amazes me how Tasha or any of the other royals followed my brother blindly. He could probably asked them to jump off a cliff and they would do it. He had than strong command and influence in others that I didn't like so much, not that I have anything against him. I love and adore Andre very much but…seeing him how he leads the ' Mână' (_the Hand as in our secret group name_) in action, he sort of disappoints me in a way. Sometimes I wished my brother wasn't the student King nor that he was part of the Mână.

"Come on ladies." Tasha gestured us to pick up the bags full of toilet paper and to followed her to the left side of the gym.

Avery, Camille, and I did what was asked. Each one of us of grabbed a black bag and carried them to what seemed to be a punching bag.

"We'll used the punching bags to tie one end of the toilet paper and attached to other equipment and we'll keep doing that until everything has been attached. Think of the toilet paper as party streamers and we're decorating." Tasha instructed happily as if she proud of her simile.

Avery scowled at Tasha, "Party streamers? Seriously, we're not supposed to make the gym look all pretty and perfect. It's supposed to be hideous. Let's just tossed the toilet paper in different directions and let it get tangled up on the equipment." she said.

"Fine, whatever. I just wanted to do this neatly so it wouldn't get too messy and we wouldn't find ourselves trap in a toilet paper web." Tasha said dryly, apparently her good mood had been ruined by Avery's complaint.

I hoped they would continue disagreeing with each other that way we wouldn't get anything done. Maybe even one of the Guardians doing a perimeter check around school will see us and end this stupid prank.

And…they didn't.

Neither one of them said nothing more. Avery snatched a toilet paper roll from the bag and marched off one direction to start her '_messy decorating'_. Tasha did the same only she went the opposite direction to do some her '_decorating_'.

Camille and I exchanged looks. Neither one of us were sure what happened. Avery and Tasha are supposed to be best friends as far as I remembered. Around St. Vladimir Ave and Tasha were known as the _Darkette Twins _because of their similarities in dark hair color, eyes, tastes, and personalities. They were inseparable, bossy, and judgy toward others but more importantly they did everything in mutual agreement. This was the first time I saw them disagree. I wondered if something happened between the two before we sneaked out of St. Vladimir or if has been going on longer.

Camille shrugged it off and grabbed a toilet paper roll. To her, it was no of concern on what was going on with Avery or Tasha. That was their business. And I should have felt the same but my inner thoughts would let me.

Just as I about to reach for a toilet paper roll I heard a splashing sound somewhere nearby like water or something had exploded. I pulled back quickly and looked around a bit startled. It was kind of hard to do in the dark and I started to wondered if I was hearing things. But n, the splashing sounds bounced off of the walls from every direction and it was loud.

I heard Avery yelping, then Camille, Tasha too, and then angry cursing from the boys. Confused, a bit frightened, confused again. I wasn't sure what was going on. I felt like a chicken running around without a head as I jerked my head in the direction of where the screaming was from each time I heard it. And no soon after I found out what was actually going on until I heard myself screaming and felt freezing water explode in the back of my neck.

I got hit with freezing water two more times, one in the face and the other on the left thigh. The water ran through my whole body making me shivered involuntarily. The rest of it was absorb in by my clothes, I was no drenched.

Blinding lights suddenly paralyzed everyone in their spots. I couldn't see anything not even my own hands that were right in front me. My vision was blurry and I felt a bit disoriented too. I had to squeezed my eyes shut in order to refocus.

I knew someone had switched the lights on, and it scared me to think it could be a Guardian. Headmistress Kirova would have a fit when she finds outs and then we would all get expelled!

Luckily that was not case. As I opened my eyes I became aware of five shadowy figures leaning around the ledges of the second floor through my peripheral vision. It took me a minute to refocus, when I did I wished I hadn't. The faces of the shadowy figures came into view. They were all junior novices whom I used to know back in grade school. Each of one them held what appeared to be water balls in their hands, waiting for some further instructions.

What struck me the most was seeing Rose among them.

I tore my gaze from her when our eyes met. I felt a little shame and guilty for being part of this and now I had been caught red handed by own best friend.

Was it betrayal? Absolutely. I could never look at Rose in the eye ever again. I should have never come here.

"Look at what we have here trespassers." a familiar yet very angry voice spoke from behind.

I turned around wide-eyed-opened when I saw Dimitri Belikov blocking the exit with his hands crossed over his chest, his jaw was clenched, and his dark brown eyes burned through Ivan's skull. He really hated Ivan…but he also looked pissed at all of us, and I wouldn't have blamed him.

In a similar posture, next to him stood four senior novices whom I knew only by name, Denis, Artur, Lev, and Tamara. They all looked just as pissed as Dimitri. And worst of all, they were blocking the exit, we couldn't even try to escape if wanted too.

Ivan smirked mockingly and took five dangerous steps toward Dimitri. I flinched for him, if he got any closer to Dimitri, the trained novice could easily strike a perfect punch.

"We're not trespassing. We came here with our school's Guardians. In case you're not aware we're supposed to choose our wanna be Guardians for your stupid field test next semester." he explained very convincing I almost believed him.

"It's late." Dimitri accused.

"For you maybe, but for us it's still early, right guys?" Ivan turned to us.

We nodded our heads in agreement. It was true, we were on nocturnal schedule it was early for us. But they were running in human schedule it was late, very late. I'm surprised that they were even up at this hour.

"It doesn't explained why you have juniors with you." Denis pointed out.

"We're shadowing them, you know show them the ropes to take over student government next year." Avery offered.

"Showing them the ropes to take over the Mână," spat the girl named Tamara.

At the word '_Mână_' I felt the tension growing between Moroi and Dhampirs, they shoot each other dark glares. In my peripheral vision I could see my own classmates holding up their palms, they were ready to conjure up elemental magic in case Dimitri swung the first punch.

I panicked, I searched for my brother. Why wasn't he stopping this? Why was he letting the juniors act on anger and that couldn't be good? My eyes found Andre standing next to Avery and Adrian. His arms were crossed, his head held high, and had a self-satisfied grin in his lips. It seemed as if he was taking pleasure in Ivan's taunting on Dimitri. He was almost proud.

That send my stomach into hurled. I had never felt so disgusted and disappointed in my brother in my whole entire life. I turned to Rose for some comfort but she looked away quickly.

_Was she mad at me? Disappointed? _I couldn't tell.

Ivan's laugher caught my attention again. He was laughing right in front of Dimitri's face like he was daring Dimitri to actually punch him. But the tall, intimidating guy show no reaction. His face was completely blank. If he was hiding his itch to knock Ivan out, he was doing a good job.

"Mână? I have no idea what you're talking about. Is that Russian for '_stupid girl_'?" Ivan taunted.

Tamara stepped forward ready to leashed out her nails at Ivan but Artur caught her arm and pulled her held back. The girl struggled in his gripped.

"You have a wild one there, Belikov. Then again all female dhampirs are wild." This time Ivan lifted his eyes to where Rose and Dimitri's sister Viktoria stood. He licked his lips seductively, insulating his lust to them.

Rose and Viktoria grimace at he in disgust.

Dimitri, however, stepped forward. He stood a couple inches away from Ivan's face as his fist rose up and this time it seemed as if he really was going to swing at Ivan.

* * *

_**Rose POV:**_

Dimitri had stepped forward, his fist was ready to sucker punch Ivan for degrading Vik. Or at least I think that what's he was doing. It couldn't have been because of me too. I had dealt with many Moroi guys like Ivan practically my whole teen years and not once has Dimitri intervened. I had to let myself think that it was all for Viktoria.

Still, I couldn't help but wish that it was for me too.

The junior Moroi had conjured elemental magic at the palm of their hands, they ready to aim a direct attack at Dimitri.

At the same time, Denis and the others got into fighting stances ready to back up Dimitri. Everyone was glaring at each other. A group fight was fast approaching. There was nothing more than I wanted to do but head downstairs and defeat Dimitri. But he ordered us to remain in the second floor no matter what happened. He believed we weren't ready for this type of confrontation despite how well our skills were.

I found myself contemplating, it's not like I was good at following orders anyway. But how pissed off Dimitri will be with me if I disobeyed?

"Hey, hey, HEY!" Adrian stepped between the two guys and pushed them apart before anyone of them tried anything else. "We're only here on a tour." he assured Dimitri.

Dimitri didn't budge though. Anger had possessed him and now he was itching to knocked down Ivan for good. He attempted to side step Adrian but Adrian wouldn't let him. He even used his hands to push Dimitri back.

Adrian looked like a hero at the moment. His hands were powerful enough to keep a deadly Dhampir from killing a Moroi. Any other one of Dimitri's friends would have had a hard time restraining him. But Adrian made it seemed so effortlessly.

That is until I saw Adrian's green eyes adjust to Dimitri's brown ones as he muttered words. Dimitri was in a trance. That sneaky idiot was using compulsion and it was working as I watched Dimitri's body relaxed.

Denis and the others also seemed to have relaxed. Everyone did. There was nothing more exhausting than preventing a fight between Ivan and Dimitri which is why they were kept away from each other in the first place. I'm surprised that Lisssa's brother didn't even stepped in to interfered, he always did.

My eyes wondered to Andre. The tall blonde guy just stood there still frowning disapprovingly at Adrian. It was really, really weird. I knew for a fact that Andre was the leader of the Mână. Lissa told me this over the summer, the royals voted for him. I knew Andre would be engaged in pulling cruel pranks on us but he wasn't the type to be engaged in physical violence. Andre believes it's beneath him that it's barbaric. He won't even let any of his group get into those sort of fights. So, why was he allowing Ivan?

Weird.

I was glad Adrian intervened. He wasn't a fighter but he wasn't a peace maker either. He probably foresaw how out controlled things would get if a fight broke out and didn't stopped it. And from what I could tell, Denis and the others weren't going to stopped Dimitri either. Their eyes read 'fight…tear…punch…inflict.' I'm sure they were lusting to hurt a few Moroi if the opportunity showed.

Adrian shot Ivan a warning looking as he side step him to walk over Andre. He muttered something to Andre. Whatever it was it got Andre nodding and agreeing with Adrian. He used compulsion again! It was so wrong in many levels yet it was so right in other ways. Because I had a feeling this confrontation was over.

"Let's go." Andre finally spoke up as he instructed his group.

Confused expressions met Andre's words but not no one said anything. Ivan and the others started walking towards the exit, shooting hateful glares at us as they went.

Dimitri and the others stepped aside and let the Moroi leave without causing anymore conflict. Mason, Eddie, Meredith, and even Viktoria smiled at the Moroi, waving bye as if we had won. In a way, we did. Our gym remained unharmed. I didn't felt like a winner, though.

I stole one last glance Lissa before she left. There was some sadness, hurt, and guilt in her eyes. That made me feel even more guilt and shame for betraying our friendship like this. I didn't want any of this, I didn't know how to get out of it and from what I could feel in Lissa she didn't know either. This rivalry was going to tear us apart whether we like it or not.

* * *

_**A/N**: _I know, no fights. Darn!...Please don't hurt me *wince* ;D

That doesn't mean other fights will be excluded from future chapters. When there's an intense rivalry between school a fight is bound to happened. Trust me I'd experienced it first hand. So there will be fights later on. Anyway what did you think of chapter? About the characters? the plot development? Let me know in your reviews :)


End file.
